| Whitsunday Coast Airport | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| IATA: PPP – ICAO: YBPN
PPP
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| Summary | |||
| Airport type | Public | ||
| Operator | Whitsunday Shire Council | ||
| Location | Proserpine, Queensland, Australia | ||
| Elevation AMSL | 82 ft / 25 m | ||
| Runways | |||
| Direction | Length | Surface | |
| m | ft | ||
| 11/29 | 2,073 | 6,801 | Asphalt |
| 06/24 | 1,100 | 3,608 | Unmarked Asphalt |
| Source: AIP Enroute Supplement [1] | |||
Whitsunday Coast Airport (IATA: PPP, ICAO: YBPN) is located approximately 10 kilometres (6 mi) south of Proserpine in Queensland, Australia. The airport is the main gateway for travellers to and from the Whitsunday area and currently only has flights to the state capital Brisbane. It is currently undergoing an upgrade which is expected to be completed sometime in early/mid 2011 depending on weather delays.
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Plans to build an airfield in Proserpine commenced in 1936, however construction was delayed due to a lack of funding. Construction of the airport finally began in 1946.
The first passenger service to Proserpine was on 3 November 1951. It was a flight from Brisbane in a Douglas DC-3.
In September 2001, the airport suffered heavily from the collapse of Ansett Australia, who at the time were the biggest operaters out of Proserpine with direct services to Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne. The company even operated seasonal flights to the Gold Coast and Adelaide.
The Queensland state government announced a $7million upgrade of the existing terminal and facilities for the Whitsunday Coast Airport (Proserpine). As of November 2010 construction had commenced involving demolition of parts of the current structure and earthworks.
The key features of the upgrade are:
To ensure full functionality of the terminal throughout the upgrade, the project will be delivered and ready for use in three stages:
| Stage 1 | New departure lounge and Virgin Australia check-in counters and office | opening for use in April 2011 |
| Stage 2 | New café/bar and jet star check-in counters and office | opening for use in June 2011 |
| Stage 3 | New arrivals area and indoor baggage claim carousel | opening for use in July 2011 |
The current changes in affect on the terminal during the stage 1 construction phase include:
| Airlines | Destinations |
|---|---|
| Jetstar Airways | Brisbane |
| Virgin Australia | Brisbane |
The airport has previously had direct flights to Sydney & Melbourne. It is hoped that with the completion of the upgrade to the terminal that the airlines will re-instate these services. Virgin Blue (now Virgin Australia) and Jetstar cut their once-weekly direct flights to Sydney in response to rising fuel costs during the Global Financial Crisis even though the route regularly ran at full capacity and was usually booked out days in advance. In May 2011, Jetstar also announced it would be discontinuing afternoon services (replacing it with morning services and would be reducing services further until about July. The airport currently only has services to the state capital Brisbane, however Virgin Australia has indicated that with their aircraft numbers being boosted, they may look to re-introduce direct Sydney flights.